Gender Role Stereotypes Research Articles

Explaining citizen support for women police in India

ABSTRACT In this paper, we examine citizen support for female police officers in India. More specifically, we examined the relationship of citizens’ perceptions of police effectiveness, corruption, general satisfaction with police, and contact experiences with their support for women police in India, a society that is patriarchal with strong gender role stereotypes. Findings suggest that older residents living in urban areas are supportive of more women police, but contact has no bearing on the dependent variable. Perceived corruption of the police, in general, was a strong predictor for citizen support for female police officers. However, perceived police effectiveness and satisfaction is negatively related to support for women police. It is argued that apart from expanding the strength of female police officers in all female police stations, they should also be deployed more widely in patrol functions to enhance the visibility and value of women in crime and security responsibilities.

The Powerful Male Hero: A Content Analysis of Gender Representation in Posters for Children’s Animated Movies

Findings across a wide body of research suggest that media targeted at young audiences often portray characters according to stereotypical gender roles. Childhood is a particularly sensitive time in gender identity development, and logic from social cognitive theory suggests that repeatedly observing these stereotypes can have a lasting influence on young audiences’ worldview. Building on previous research investigating gender role displays in film content, and with the expectation that content creators use movie posters to convey a one-shot summary of films to audiences, we conducted a content analysis on the gendered power depictions of the main characters in movie posters of 152 popular U.S. animated children’s feature films produced over the last 80 years. Findings revealed that main characters were more likely to be male and that males were portrayed as more powerful. These results add to a growing, yet substantial, body of research illustrating the prevalence of stereotypical gender role portrayals across virtually every popular medium with which children come into contact. We discuss our results’ implications for potential short-term and long-term effects of exposure to films’ gender role stereotypes on young viewers’ real-life gender role expectations.

Sexual Fantasies and Stereotypical Gender Roles: The Influence of Sexual Orientation, Gender and Social Pressure in a Sample of Italian Young-Adults.

Differences in gender and sexual orientation are suggested to be linked to differences in the way individuals think and behave. The aim of the current study is to evaluate the effect of gender and sexual orientation on sexual fantasies and gender roles in heterosexual and gay and lesbian people. The sample was composed of 547 participants, 246 men (Mage = 28.85; SD = 9,27) and 301 women (Mage = 25,97; SD = 7,141). Within this sample, 61.8% of men and 79.4% of women were heterosexual, whereas 38.2% of men and 20.6% of women were gay and lesbian. Participants completed an online battery of questionnaires to assess their sexual orientation, sexual fantasies, and gender roles on three different dimensions. It was hypothesized that the heterosexual group would report more normative sexual fantasies (H1) and that women in general would report androgynous characteristics, which would be linked to a low degree of reported feminine ideal roles and high social pressure to conform to feminine social expectations (H2). The results showed that lesbian women scored slightly higher than heterosexual women on transgressive sexual fantasies and lower on emotional-romantic ones. Moreover, heterosexual women, but not lesbian women, showed a pattern of high social pressure to conform to feminine expectations together with lower scores in the IRQ. We found the same results on gay men but not for heterosexual men. The overall results suggest that sexual fantasies and gender roles are relatively independent concepts and are influenced by different mechanisms.

Michalina Wis\u0142ocka\u2019s The Art of Loving and the Legacy of Polish Sexology

This article discusses the development of Polish sexology as well as the challenges of sex education in Poland in general and the implications of Michalina Wisłocka’s work within the field of adult sex education in particular, both from a historical perspective and against the background of sociopolitical circumstances and the backlash in the sexual politics of today’s Poland. Michalina Wisłocka (1921–2005) is the author of Sztuka kochania [The Art of Loving] from 1978—the most widely read Polish handbook on sex, sexuality and eroticism. Although there has not been a sexual revolution in Poland, the success of the book may be considered revolutionary as it had an enormous impact on sexual awareness among the Poles at least for two decades after its publication. Nowadays, the book is considered groundbreaking as regards its normalizing effect on the language of sex, despite the omnipresence of gender role stereotypes. Even so, the revival of Wisłocka that has been seen in Poland in recent years is quite remarkable because the book appears traditional and largely outdated from today’s perspective. In the context of the postsocialist retraditionalization of sexual politics in Poland, however, the revived interest in Wisłocka seems less ambiguous since it can be perceived both as a sign of backlash and a sign of renewed demand for sexual knowledge and education.

Men Should Be Competent, Women Should Have it All: Multiple Criteria in the Evaluation of Female Job Candidates

The present research investigated whether evaluations of female and male job candidates rely on different dimensions. Going beyond previous studies on the role of gender stereotypes, we examined the relative importance of competence, morality, and sociability in employment decisions. In Study 1, we content-analyzed 68 archival reports of professionals to explore the extent to which they spontaneously referred to the three dimensions in evaluations of women and men. In Study 2, 259 Italian student participants rated the importance of different traits in hiring a female or male candidate for a job position. Additionally, we tested the relative influence of specific information about candidate competence and morality in predicting hiring (Study 3; n = 123 Italian students) and contract renewal (Study 4; n = 108 Italian students) decisions. Findings consistently showed that competence was the most important dimension in evaluations and decisions concerning male candidates, whereas all dimensions were important for female candidates. Moreover, decisions concerning women were influenced by the dimension on which they appeared to be relatively weak. Overall, findings suggest that women are evaluated against multiple criteria and might therefore be asked to meet more requirements than men to be selected and make a career. These findings can help evaluators and decision makers adopt assessment strategies that prevent more critical evaluations of women, such as establishing specific evaluation criteria before the disclosure of a candidate’s gender.

The role of sexual orientation in differentiating between perceptions of rape myths, gender role stereotypes and social distance: The case of Israel

The purpose of the current study was to explore the relationships between Israeli gender role stereotypes, rape myths toward male and female victims, and social distance from sex crime victims and sex offenders, according to the observer?s sex and sexual orientation (gay men, lesbian women, and heterosexual men and women). The data was collected during the end of 2016 and included 401 Israeli participants. A multivariate analysis of variance, as well as series of Pearson analyses, were used to examine the differences between groups as well as to examine the correlations between research variables. Results broadly conformed to predictions, with men generally more negative than women. However, people with a same-sex orientation endorse more liberal gender role attitudes than heterosexuals. In addition, overall, participants expressed greater willingness to maintain social contacts with victims than with offenders. Nonetheless, only among heterosexuals significant negative correlations between rape myths and willingness to maintain social contacts with victims were found.

Career Progression of Female Academics in Public Universities: A Tale of Open University of Tanzania

Tanzania recognizes that gender equality and female empowerment are important for development of the country. Despite the government efforts to put in place employment laws, policies and gender strategies to remove inequality, still there are under representation of female employees in senior positions in many public sectors. In Public Universities the situation is the same as the number of academic staff varies between female and male. There is huge gender gap in this career as it is dominated by male. Gender disparity tends to be wider in senior positions. The major objective of the study was to examine factors that affect career progression of female academics to senior positions in Public Universities. The study employed qualitative design to understand academics experiences on the female career progression. Open University of Tanzania (OUT) was used as a study case. Twenty one (21) participants were selected purposively from senior positions, junior positions and University management. Interview method for data collection was employed to collect primary data and secondary data were collected through documentary review. The study used thematic analysis in data analysis. The findings revealed that family work conflict, culture and gender, lack of mentor and mentoring program, lack of role model, low self-confidence, limited opportunities and networking were factors that discourage career progression of female academicians to senior positions. The findings implied that few female academicians managed to reach senior positions and majorities are struggling to move up. Their failures were associated with traditional gender role, society believes and gender stereotype. Generally, the study contributes to the addition of knowledge and literature on career progression of female academics which has been under-researched, especially in Tanzania.

Gender ideology and career aspirations among students of architecture in Nigeria

Due to lower female enrolment in architecture programs, this study investigated the gender ideology of students of architecture in private universities in South-West Nigeria to gain insight into perceptions that are pervasive among the students with respect to gender. A questionnaire assessing gender ideology was administered to a sample of 378 students (101 females and 277 males). Statistical analysis revealed that the females were more egalitarian than the males in professional and socio-cultural gender ideology. The gender ideology of the students had a significant relationship with the type of career aspired to but not with their intention to practice architecture. This implied that most females in schools of architecture had succeeded in breaking out of traditional gender role stereotypes. It further suggested that as gender roles become more malleable in favour of females, there would be a greater influx of females into the field of architecture in Nigeria.

Exploring the lived experience of Jordanian male nurses: A phenomenological study

BackgroundHuman beings have an inbuilt desire to care and nurture others. In some professions such as nursing, women are perceived as privileged in relation to these traits, and women are in the majority in the nursing profession. The Gender theory suggests that men should adapt to feminine traits and nature in order to fit in the nursing profession. However, there is a paucity of literature in relation to Arab male nurses' experience in nursing. PurposeThe purpose of this study was to explore the Jordanian male nurses' experiences of their career within their Arabic community. MethodsA hermeneutic phenomenological approach, underpinned by VanManen's perspective was used. Twenty-two Jordanian male nurses were approached from four hospitals in Jordan. Four focus groups comprising 5-6 interviewees in each were used. The focus groups were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. The data were analyzed using Van Manen's hermeneutic approach and themes extracted from the Arabic version were compared critically with the analysis of the English version to develop the meaning of the narratives. DiscussionThree major themes emerged from the data: (i) personal gains; (ii) masculinity; (iii) and cultural influences. Whilst male nurses recognized nursing is a female dominant profession, they viewed themselves as more independent in decision making and more productive than their female counterparts. Significantly, the participants described nursing as a means of fulfilling their spiritual needs and thus a personal gain. The interviewees linked their masculinity to resilience and endurance. Participants described that men in nursing face some social constraints within the Arab community. ConclusionThe study findings partly supported the fact that nursing in Jordan is a predominantly female profession which lends support to the gender theory in which Jordanian male nurses experienced a social bias and disadvantages by Arabic culture stereotypes of a male nurse. Although nursing is still a feminine career, the findings of this study raise awareness that gender role stereotype might not hold a strong stance in relation to nursing and that could be attributed to elements such as economic and payment status.

Gender differences in the choice of field of study and the relevance of income information. Insights from a field experiment

Research consistently reports pronounced earnings differences between men and women, even among the highly educated. This article investigates whether students’ responsiveness to information on income returns relates to gender differences in major choices, which might contribute to the persistent gender wage gap. We use field-experimental panel data on students in Berlin (Germany), starting one year before high school graduation. Our intervention comprised information on major-specific returns to college and was provided to students in randomly selected schools. By comparing the major-specific application decisions of “treated” and “untreated” high school seniors, we examine whether, and why, male and female students respond differently to this information. As potential mechanisms behind a gender-specific treatment effect, we analyze the role of gender stereotypes and roles associated with certain job attributes. We find that providing income information on college majors only influences the major choices of male (not female) students with college intention: treated male students on average applied to majors associated with higher mean income. Further analyses suggest that this gender difference in the treatment effect cannot be explained by differential distributions or effects of preferred job attributes.

The Cinderella Complex: Word embeddings reveal gender stereotypes in movies and books.

Our analysis of thousands of movies and books reveals how these cultural products weave stereotypical gender roles into morality tales and perpetuate gender inequality through storytelling. Using the word embedding techniques, we reveal the constructed emotional dependency of female characters on male characters in stories. We call this narrative structure "Cinderella complex", which assumes that women depend on men in the pursuit of a happy, fulfilling life. Our analysis covers a substantial portion of narratives that shape the modern collective memory, including 7,226 books, 6,087 movie synopses, and 1,109 movie scripts. The "Cinderella complex" is observed to exist widely across periods and contexts, reminding how gender stereotypes are deeply rooted in our society. Our analysis of the words surrounding female and male characters shows that the lives of males are adventure-oriented, whereas the lives of females are romantic-relationship oriented. Finally, we demonstrate the social endorsement of gender stereotypes by showing that gender-stereotypical movies are voted more frequently and rated higher.

포스트모던한 여성 이미지와 로맨스의 갈등과 타협 - 검색어를 입력하세요 WWW를 중심으로

Television dramas construct gender discourse by reproducing in general and reproducing female images in particular, thus influencing our daily activities. In particular, television dramas assume that women form the bulk of the audience, also representing the subjects of scholars who study feminist lenses and dealing with women's lives. Recently, mass media have produced feminist images and female narratives in response to the needs of feminism. This study analyzes the narrative of the tvN romance drama, <Enter Your Search Words, WWW>. The drama raised the expectations of female audiences by establishing an active image of women and a female-centered relationship and narratives. However, the romance of the free female characters remains as a degenerative fantasy of women and solidifies the heterosexual-oriented narrative. The free women form a feminist image. The representation of women beyond gender role stereotypes is also significant. However, women's images and simple gender-mirrored romances, irrelevant to the socially structural constraints of women, lead to irony in which women are made more oppressive. This mode of marginal conflict and compromise demonstrates how popular and commercial television dramas take advantage of the postmodern female image and use existing conservative romance narratives.

La influencia diferencial de las redes sociales en la participación social de mujeres y varones

El propósito de este trabajo es analizar el perfil de las redes personales de mujeres y varones en cuanto a la participación social de sus contactos, y el diferente papel que pueden tener sus contactos débiles y fuertes a la hora de explicar la intención de desarrollar diversas formas de participación social. A través de una encuesta on-line 263 estudiantes universitarios actualmente no involucrados en ninguna forma de participación social estimaron la probabilidad de su futura implicación en ciertos tipos de participación social y aportaron el número aproximado de familiares, amigos y conocidos que desarrollaban cada tipo. Esta última información fue utilizada para calcular el grado de centralidad de los sujetos en sus redes sociales considerando los vínculos fuertes y débiles. Los análisis llevados a cabo confirman que mujeres y varones presentan diferencias en sus redes sociales. Sólo los vínculos débiles son predictores significativos de la intención de desarrollar la participación, pero hay diferencias por tipo de participación social y por género. La influencia de los vínculos sociales es significativa si el tipo de participación social se ajusta al estereotipo de rol de género. Se discuten los resultados a la luz de la aproximación focus norm y la influencia social normativa.

Parental egalitarian attitudes towards gender roles affect agreement on girls taking STEM fields at university in Japan

ABSTRACTWomen are still in the minority in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) fields in many countries, including Japan. Parental gender role attitudes are a potential influence on whether high school girls choose STEM fields and which fields they choose. However, this has not yet been closely examined in the Japanese context. We used an online questionnaire to investigate whether parental agreement regarding girls’ choice of STEM fields was affected by stereotypical parental gender role attitudes. We found that Japanese parents with egalitarian gender role attitudes generally agreed with girls’ freedom to choose their field of study (not just limited to STEM fields). Parents that agreed thought that girls could find employment across all fields. However, parents that disagreed expressed a variety of reasons, including negative perceptions of STEM fields such as lack of employment opportunities (biology, mathematics, physics and information science) and unsuitability for women (engineering). These results suggest that improving such field-specific negative perceptions may contribute to increase parental support for girls’ choice of STEM fields.

Gender role stereotypes and perpetrating experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace

Gender role stereotypes and perpetrating experiences of sexual harassment in the workplace

대학생의 성역할 고정관념이 발달장애인의 성과 발달장애인 대상 성폭력에 대한 인식에 미치는 영향

대학생의 성역할 고정관념이 발달장애인의 성과 발달장애인 대상 성폭력에 대한 인식에 미치는 영향

부부의 성역할 고정관념과 양육참여가 양육스트레스에 미치는 영향: 자기-상대방 상호의존 매개 모형(APIMeM)의 적용

본 연구의 목적은 유아기 자녀를 가진 부부의 성역할 고정관념과 양육참여가 양육스트레스에 미치는 자기효과와 상대방효과를 살펴보고, 성역할 고정관념과 양육스트레스 간의 관계를 양육참여가 매개하는지 검증하는 것이다. 이를 위해 한국아동패널 자료 중 2014년도에 수집된 7차 연도 자료를 사용하였으며, 부부 1,429쌍을 대상으로 분석을 실시하였다. 자료 분석에 대응표본 t 검증, 상관분석, APIMeM 검증을 실시하였다. 주요 결과는 다음과 같다. 첫째, 성역할 고정관념은 부부간 차이가 없었다. 그러나 양육참여와 양육스트레스 수준은 아내집단이 남편집단보다 높았다. 둘째, 남편과 아내의 성역할 고정관념이 양육참여를 통해 양육스트레스에 영향을 미치는 자기효과가 나타났고, 양육참여의 매개효과도 유의한 것으로 나타났다. 상대방 효과의 경우, 아내의 성역할 고정관념이 아내의 양육참여를 통해 남편의 양육스트레스에 영향을 미치는 경로만이 유의한 것으로 나타났으며 양육참여의 매개효과도 유의하였다. 본 연구의 결과는 추후 부부를 대상으로 한 연구에 기초 자료로 활용되고, 부부의 양육스트레스 경감을 위한 프로그램 개발에도 도움을 줄 것으로 기대된다.

The Effects of Gender Role Stereotypes in Digital Learning Games on Motivation for STEM Achievement

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education has become an essential part of school curricula and is crucial to filling future jobs, so research examining ways to increase STEM motivations is essential. While an abundance of research has examined STEM in relation to traditional media, research examining the impact of digital learning games has only recently become more common. The present study attempts to add to this growing research area by exploring how different scientist depictions within an evolution learning game might affect STEM motivations. The unique methodology of this study allowed for the inclusion of a diverse range of ages not often present in similar research. A significant interaction for the 9–10-year-old age group and subsequent pairwise comparisons found that motivation was higher when students played with a high-masculine male and low-feminine female scientist mentor. Effects specifically related to gender of the scientists dissipated as the age of participants increased. These results show the impact that scientist depictions can have on different age groups, as well as the importance of further exploring the impact of digital learning games on STEM motivations.

The Relationships of Dispositional Mindfulness with Sexual Prejudice and Internalized Sexual Stigma Among Heterosexual and Gay/Bisexual Men

A recently growing literature explored the effect of mindfulness on the reduction of stereotypes and prejudice. However, studies exploring the relationship between dispositional mindfulness and prejudice are very limited and contradictory. The current work focused on the associations of dispositional mindfulness with internalized sexual stigma and sexual prejudice in gay/bisexual men and heterosexual men, respectively. Participants were 180 Italian men, both heterosexual (N = 91, 50.6%) and gay/bisexual (N = 89, 49.4%), ranging between 18 and 40 years old (M = 28.23, SD = 5.59) that completed a questionnaire which contained demographic information and measures of mindfulness, need for cognitive closure, and adherence to traditional and stereotypical gender roles. In order to test the predictive power of mindfulness’ dimensions on internalized sexual stigma and on sexual prejudice over and above the other predictors, we used dominance analysis. Analyses revealed that only the FFMQ-Nonjudging of inner experience explained a proportion of variance of internalized sexual stigma significantly larger than zero, whereas the variance of the score on the sexual prejudice was mostly accounted for by right-wing political orientation and FFMQ-Observing. Having a mindful nonjudging attitude toward one’s inner experience would associate to less internalized sexual stigma in gay and bisexual men, whereas having a mindful observing disposition would help heterosexual men to have less sexual prejudice against gay men. Limitations and future directions are discussed.

Impact of gender on the career development of female traditional Korean medicine doctors: a qualitative study

ObjectiveThis study aims to examine the impact of gender and expected gender roles on the career development of young female traditional Korean medicine (KM) doctors.DesignWe conducted semistructured interviews to examine...